A smarter way to spend education dollars

I don't agree with all the ideas but they generally seem less punative than the ideas our leaders here are proposing. Notice how the author sites how studies say merit pay doesn't work, so much for data driven reforms. This is from South Carolina. -cpg

From the state.com

by Paul Thomas

Education Superintendent Mick Zais’ recent proposals for the state education budget present an ideal platform for considering how best to move forward in difficult economic times.

First and foremost, political leaders need to set aside politics and partisanship when debating policy and funding for education. Instead, we should be guided by evidence.

Here are some evidence-based decisions that would benefit our schools and address the budget crunch, which reveal both the wisdom and the flaws in some of Dr. Zais’ proposals.

Cut funding for SAT preparation. This is his best proposal, but we should go further. Decades of data and research have confirmed that test scores are far more linked to out-of-school factors, such as poverty, than in-school quality. Exit exams have shown virtually no benefit despite huge amounts of money spent designing, implementing and scoring the tests. South Carolina should reduce or eliminate funding for test-prep and testing itself when there is no evidence that those tests are producing positive results. The only people who have benefitted from the rise in testing are test designers, test producers and companies scoring those tests.

Defund the National Board certification process, and reallocate funding to programs that are fair and match the wealth of evidence about the conditions that support teacher improvement (teaching conditions, class size, administrative support, teacher collegiality). A major study supported by National Board for Professional Teaching Standards itself has revealed that we have no evidence that board certification causes superior teaching; in fact, it is likely that board certification is attracting those teachers already excelling in the field. The board certification process is not fair (not all teachers have access to the opportunity), and it has nothing except advocacy to support the huge investment by our state.

Beware investments in technology and on-line education. Technology often widens the equity gap that disproportionately hurts students living in poverty. Since South Carolina already is suffering the inordinate burden of poverty — a fact reflected in the schools but not caused by them — massive commitments to technology are likely to increase, not decrease, our equity gap. As well, classrooms are littered with out-of-date technology and unused technology, untold money wasted, while children still lack adequate access to books in their homes.

One caveat on technology: We should work to replace traditional textbooks with electronic texts that can be quickly updated and slash the physical cost of production. Textbooks always have been the worst books in any child’s hands, lining the pockets of textbook companies at the expense of students. We can do better, and now is the time to consider something different.

Reject performance-based teacher pay, since the evidence clearly shows that it is neither motivating nor fair. Teacher accountability linked to student outcomes is flawed since teachers have no full or direct control over student behavior and test scores are a reflection of dozens of factors (and years of teachers). To characterize the teaching/learning process as a singular and direct relationship between one teacher and one student (or one class of students) is to misrepresent the process entirely.

South Carolina today and historically faces the overwhelming weight of poverty that is reflected in our schools. We must stop scapegoating schools and teachers, since neither caused our state’s poverty. Schools alone cannot erase poverty, but we can improve our schools and reshape our education budget if we are guided by evidence instead of ideology.

Thirty years of education reform in South Carolina has wasted millions and millions of dollars by trying the same things (accountability, standards, tests) over and over. If Superintendent Zais will apply the same evidence-based logic he has offered for eliminating our focus on the SAT to the rest of the education budget, I believe we can both weather the economic storm and reform our schools positively in the coming years.

Read more: http://www.thestate.com/2011/02/03/1676497/thomas-smarter-ways-to-spend-education.html##ixzz1CvoIHuAB